PAYING FOR OTHERS
One of the themes of this blog is that the Danish welfare state is increasingly unaffordable. Another set of figures just released show - yet again - just how unaffordable.
It is one thing for people of working age to have to support pensioners. But people of working age also have to support other people of working age, who are, for one reason or another, not working and so not paying taxes. In Holland and Sweden, there are 5.6 people in work to support these non-workers; in the U.K. there are 5.0 and in Germany there are 4.8. However, in Denmark there are only 3.5.
What is worrying is not just the absolute difference, but the fact that the ratio is getting worse; as recently as 2008, there were 4.1 people between 15 and 64 supporting each person in that age group who were not working. The reforms of the past few years have all had the aim of increasing the number of people in the key 15-64 age group who are available for work; either by educating them better or encouraging them to become employed. The Government, and those affected, would say that those reforms have been major ones. The figures show that despite reforms, Denmark still has a long way to go if it wants to be able to finance its welfare state.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday, 29 December 2013
Saturday, 28 December 2013
HOLIDAY ENTERTAINMENT
"When I was a kid, we always used to go to the cinema on 26 December," said the head technician at the local cinema. "They'll never come between Christmas and New Year, there's too much else on," was the gloomy reply from a fellow Board member. Not being a Dane, I wouldn't know who was right.
This year we opened the cinema in the holiday period for the first time, showing Walking With Dinosaurs at 16.30 and the new Disney film Frozen at 19.30. In the first 4 days, we have had 191 customers, 80% for the latter, which will produce a nice tidy profit.
So I think we can reasonably say that my technician was right.
Walter Blotscher
"When I was a kid, we always used to go to the cinema on 26 December," said the head technician at the local cinema. "They'll never come between Christmas and New Year, there's too much else on," was the gloomy reply from a fellow Board member. Not being a Dane, I wouldn't know who was right.
This year we opened the cinema in the holiday period for the first time, showing Walking With Dinosaurs at 16.30 and the new Disney film Frozen at 19.30. In the first 4 days, we have had 191 customers, 80% for the latter, which will produce a nice tidy profit.
So I think we can reasonably say that my technician was right.
Walter Blotscher
Friday, 27 December 2013
iPHONES
I got an iPhone for Christmas. It wasn't in fact a present, my wife simply changed her mobile telephone subscription. She, my daughter and I were all on her company's telephone subscription, which is one of those cheap and cheerful plans, that doesn't cost very much. Then, out of the blue, she was rung up by a seller from another telephone company; if she changed her subscription for us all over to the new company, then she could get three iPhones totally free.
This sounded very like one of those Nigerian blocked account scams, so my wife was understandably very suspicious. However, after lots of investigation, it turned out to be true. Sure, she had to commit to stay with the new company for a minimum three years. But that is never going to compensate the company for giving me an iPhone. Maybe they think I am a 17-year old?
My experience is that mobile phone pricing is one one of the most opaque systems in the world. Economists like to talk of perfect competition, where lots of buyers and sellers have access to perfect information about prices. However, trying to work out how mobile telephone companies make money must be exhausting.
But enough of that. I like my iPhone, and that is all that matters.
Walter Blotscher
I got an iPhone for Christmas. It wasn't in fact a present, my wife simply changed her mobile telephone subscription. She, my daughter and I were all on her company's telephone subscription, which is one of those cheap and cheerful plans, that doesn't cost very much. Then, out of the blue, she was rung up by a seller from another telephone company; if she changed her subscription for us all over to the new company, then she could get three iPhones totally free.
This sounded very like one of those Nigerian blocked account scams, so my wife was understandably very suspicious. However, after lots of investigation, it turned out to be true. Sure, she had to commit to stay with the new company for a minimum three years. But that is never going to compensate the company for giving me an iPhone. Maybe they think I am a 17-year old?
My experience is that mobile phone pricing is one one of the most opaque systems in the world. Economists like to talk of perfect competition, where lots of buyers and sellers have access to perfect information about prices. However, trying to work out how mobile telephone companies make money must be exhausting.
But enough of that. I like my iPhone, and that is all that matters.
Walter Blotscher
Thursday, 26 December 2013
MIDNIGHT MASS
Danes are no longer particularly religious, but they do still tend to go to church at Christmas, as a social event. 16.00 pm on Christmas Eve is the traditional time in my town, which, with a 45 minute carol service, gives just enough time to get home, take the duck or pork (turkey in our family, but that's an English eccentricity) out of the oven, and get ready to eat at precisely 18.00 pm.
Against that background, it was a bit of a radical suggestion in the parish council to hold a midnight mass this year for the first time. Not least because such a mass is more usually associated with the Catholic church, and Denmark is, if it is anything, staunchly Lutheran. Since my wife is on the parish council and it was 50% her idea, we in her family of course had to back her up. But we weren't sure if we would be the only people in the church when we turned up, full of food and drink, at 23.30 pm. As it happens, she needn't have worried; the church was packed. And not at the expense of the 16.00 pm service; that had been packed as well.
Looking back at it 24 hours later, and reinforced in my pondering by my current rereading of Diarmaid MacCulloch's magisterial book Reformation, what does that mean? Quite obviously it was satisfying an unmet need, but a need for what? A counterbalance to the materialism of Christmas? An expression of societal solidarity? I am not sure. However, what I am sure about is the ability of the Christian church to survive as an organisation. Its survival may be threatened at times, by other religions, by internal strife, even by indifference. But survive it does.
I am not a fan of organised Christianity. But I am an admirer.
Walter Blotscher
Danes are no longer particularly religious, but they do still tend to go to church at Christmas, as a social event. 16.00 pm on Christmas Eve is the traditional time in my town, which, with a 45 minute carol service, gives just enough time to get home, take the duck or pork (turkey in our family, but that's an English eccentricity) out of the oven, and get ready to eat at precisely 18.00 pm.
Against that background, it was a bit of a radical suggestion in the parish council to hold a midnight mass this year for the first time. Not least because such a mass is more usually associated with the Catholic church, and Denmark is, if it is anything, staunchly Lutheran. Since my wife is on the parish council and it was 50% her idea, we in her family of course had to back her up. But we weren't sure if we would be the only people in the church when we turned up, full of food and drink, at 23.30 pm. As it happens, she needn't have worried; the church was packed. And not at the expense of the 16.00 pm service; that had been packed as well.
Looking back at it 24 hours later, and reinforced in my pondering by my current rereading of Diarmaid MacCulloch's magisterial book Reformation, what does that mean? Quite obviously it was satisfying an unmet need, but a need for what? A counterbalance to the materialism of Christmas? An expression of societal solidarity? I am not sure. However, what I am sure about is the ability of the Christian church to survive as an organisation. Its survival may be threatened at times, by other religions, by internal strife, even by indifference. But survive it does.
I am not a fan of organised Christianity. But I am an admirer.
Walter Blotscher
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
HIGH PRICES
Denmark is a high wage, high tax, high price society. I have always known that, but sometimes it helps to know just how high.
Compared with the average of the 28 E.U. countries, Danish consumer prices are 41% higher, the highest in Europe. The only countries with even higher prices are those economic oddballs, Norway and Switzerland.
What should worry Danish politicians is not just the fact that Denmark has the highest prices, but that there is a long way down to competitors. Sweden is next, at 29% above average; and the only other countries more than 20% above average are Luxemburg and Finland. Denmark's main export market Germany has only average prices, which is one reason why cross-border supermarket trade in Southern Jutland is booming.For the adventurous, there are even bigger bargains to be had. Bulgaria's and Romania's prices are 52% and 45% below average, though doing business there is not for the faint-hearted.
Denmark's VAT rate of 25% on everything is one of the main reasons for the discrepancy, but there are others; Europe's highest electricity prices, and hidden taxes on lots of parts of the production process. No wonder Danes spend less on Christmas presents than the European average, they simply have less to spend.
I am off to stuff the turkey. Have a great Christmas!
Walter Blotscher
Denmark is a high wage, high tax, high price society. I have always known that, but sometimes it helps to know just how high.
Compared with the average of the 28 E.U. countries, Danish consumer prices are 41% higher, the highest in Europe. The only countries with even higher prices are those economic oddballs, Norway and Switzerland.
What should worry Danish politicians is not just the fact that Denmark has the highest prices, but that there is a long way down to competitors. Sweden is next, at 29% above average; and the only other countries more than 20% above average are Luxemburg and Finland. Denmark's main export market Germany has only average prices, which is one reason why cross-border supermarket trade in Southern Jutland is booming.For the adventurous, there are even bigger bargains to be had. Bulgaria's and Romania's prices are 52% and 45% below average, though doing business there is not for the faint-hearted.
Denmark's VAT rate of 25% on everything is one of the main reasons for the discrepancy, but there are others; Europe's highest electricity prices, and hidden taxes on lots of parts of the production process. No wonder Danes spend less on Christmas presents than the European average, they simply have less to spend.
I am off to stuff the turkey. Have a great Christmas!
Walter Blotscher
Monday, 23 December 2013
LUKKELOVEN (3)
It's amazing how quickly supermarkets have taken to the freedom given by the liberalisation of the lukkeloven ("closing law"). My local Netto will be open during the forthcoming holidays every day from 8.00 am to 22.00 pm. The only exceptions are Christmas Eve, the main day in Denmark, and New Year's Eve, where they will close at 15.00 pm; and New Year's Day, where they will close completely (presumably the idea is that nobody will shop then, since they will be too hungover).
Following in their wake will be the local cinema, where we have decided to open during the holidays for the first time, from 26-30 December. We are showing Walking With Dinosaurs and the new Disney film Frozen, both of which should be attractive to parents at a loss as to how to entertain their children. If we can get as much custom as the supermarkets obviously do, then we should be OK going into 2014.
Walter Blotscher
It's amazing how quickly supermarkets have taken to the freedom given by the liberalisation of the lukkeloven ("closing law"). My local Netto will be open during the forthcoming holidays every day from 8.00 am to 22.00 pm. The only exceptions are Christmas Eve, the main day in Denmark, and New Year's Eve, where they will close at 15.00 pm; and New Year's Day, where they will close completely (presumably the idea is that nobody will shop then, since they will be too hungover).
Following in their wake will be the local cinema, where we have decided to open during the holidays for the first time, from 26-30 December. We are showing Walking With Dinosaurs and the new Disney film Frozen, both of which should be attractive to parents at a loss as to how to entertain their children. If we can get as much custom as the supermarkets obviously do, then we should be OK going into 2014.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday, 22 December 2013
A LAZY DAY (3)
The vagaries of the calendar mean that there is an extra day to prepare for Christmas this year. I did have plans for that day (today), but I'm afraid they did not materialise. I didn't get up until midday, having spent the morning reading a very interesting chapter in Reformation on the Catholic renewal in the 1540's that led to the Counter-Reformation. Then I watched the world handball championship bronze medal match (Denmark beat Poland), baked some mince pies, checked my mole traps, fetched my son home from Odense, had salmon for dinner (part of my workplace Christmas gift), and finally watched a very good Danish thriller Kongekabale. Altogether a lazy day.
Walter Blotscher
The vagaries of the calendar mean that there is an extra day to prepare for Christmas this year. I did have plans for that day (today), but I'm afraid they did not materialise. I didn't get up until midday, having spent the morning reading a very interesting chapter in Reformation on the Catholic renewal in the 1540's that led to the Counter-Reformation. Then I watched the world handball championship bronze medal match (Denmark beat Poland), baked some mince pies, checked my mole traps, fetched my son home from Odense, had salmon for dinner (part of my workplace Christmas gift), and finally watched a very good Danish thriller Kongekabale. Altogether a lazy day.
Walter Blotscher
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